The countdown is on! The Teacher Evacuees, my first historical women’s fiction/saga novel as Rose Warner, is out in e-book and audiobook (narrated by Laurel Lefkow and with a different cover) worldwide and paperback (UK) on 25 September.

My publisher, Canelo, calls it a ‘fresh and interesting concept’ for a WW2 story since it follows British teachers, the ‘silent evacuees,’ relocated to the countryside with their pupils at the start of the Second World War in September 1939.

To keep children safe from anticipated bombing, the British government evacuated millions of them from cities and towns to rural areas. Living with strangers and far from family and friends, this experience impacted all areas of children’s lives and had lasting effects, some positive, others profoundly damaging.

Yet little attention has been paid to the teachers who accompanied them to the countryside. Sometimes called the ‘silent evacuees,’ these teachers also had their lives uprooted and upended. In The Teacher Evacuees, and upcoming series of the same name, I tell their stories.

The heroine of The Teacher Evacuees, Canadian-born Victoria McKaye, is in part inspired by my great-aunt Vera who was teaching in England before war broke out.

When Vera’s father summoned her home to Canada, she dutifully obeyed. However, my fictional Victoria stayed in England and became a ‘teacher evacuee.’

Moving from London to a small village in rural Norfolk, a county in eastern England, forever changes Victoria’s life.

Together with her colleagues, middle-aged, standoffish Beatrice and young, quiet Nell, like their real counterparts, Victoria sorts out billets for her pupils and, with no accommodation at first arranged for them, the three live and work in the village hall.

Victoria and her fellow teachers must also improvise, adapting the standard curriculum to account for a paper shortage and rationing, no blackboard and large classes of various ages (sixty children was common).

And while adjusting to life in the countryside brings many challenges, it also brings Victoria unexpected friendships, adventure and romance with a handsome but mysterious naval officer.

Since Victoria comes from my home province of Manitoba, Canada and makes a new home in England, The Teacher Evacuees blends my British and Canadian lives and is especially close to my heart.

It’s also shaped by research I did at London’s Imperial War Museum and elsewhere, reading letters and other materials associated with wartime teachers to get a sense of the challenges they faced.

Early readers call The Teacher Evacuees ‘beautiful and very touching’ and ‘heartwarming’ with a ‘sweet romance.’

I’m excited to share this story with you and hope you enjoy it.

Find out more & pre-order The Teacher Evacuees via the links on my website here.

Paperbacks in the U.S. & Canada: Order from Blackwell’s online (with free shipping worldwide) here (currently circa $21.00 CAD/ $15.00 U.S.)

*Please note: Paperback cost fluctuates due to changing currency exchange rates but also may be much higher after the book’s publication.*